Welcome back Billy. Life was getting boring.
It will be interesting to see what you have to say about Paleolithic religion. I am reading a book now called "Why God Won't Go Away: Brian Science and the Biology of Belief" written by two physicians, Newberg and D'Quill. They speculate that Neanderthals had religious beliefs and rituals. The book explores the neuroscience behind spiritual experiences. I am just getting into it, but it seems that their presentation is building a case for God. Chris _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2011 2:09 PM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: [RC] this is a test to restore group address to my address book Centroids : Back from cyber purgatory . Two months of no computer. Still not sure if the more-or-less new system is fully functional. Still cannot get USB ports to work and that makes it impossible to use my "pet mouse," which is far better than the substitute mouse I'm compelled to make do with for now, which screws up my inadequate typing skills. Some other problems too. but to give you an idea. Question : Why does the Web allow idiots to produce debilitating viruses without severe punishment for the hackers who create such things ? This has already cost me a small fortune. not even counting the significant help that Barry extended to me that allows computer access again. And not counting the in-person help given me by another friend, Valdas, who spent several hours in person helping me get the new system up and running as much as it is. Whomever put together the virus that caught me flat footed deserves, IMHO, to be burned at the stake, after, that is, I am allowed to punch him out for a full 60 minutes with brass knuckles on my fists. Plus a few well placed kicks to the groin with steel toe work boots. Not to worry about that virus any more, it has been confined in the old computer tower-- all data, as much as could be transferred, now in the new system. It will be weeks before I am able to replace all the programs ( icons ) that were part of my repertoire previously. Still, there were real advantages to being off line for 2 months, such as seriously catching up on deferred reading. I plowed through about 25 books in that time, including Jonah Goldberg's "Liberal Fascism." Very good read, but based on false premises first devised by Hayek. More about this later if anyone is interested. Lots or reading about the Paleolithic origins of religion, roughly 50,000 BC, all of which makes mince meat of the views of religious origins in each and every Big Religion on Earth, both East and West. Why bother ? Well, for starters, because claims about religious origins are fundamental to Christianity, Judaism, Islam. etc. and the rather solid stuff that is now documented in spades --as usual, unknown to the great unwashed-- really creates major theological problems for just about everyone. And it does no favors at all to Atheists who have their own religious origins mythology which says that in a state of nature humans are naturally virtuous, irreligious, and are de facto "liberal Democrats" but who happened to live in caves which they painted with artwork worthy of the Guggenheim. Actually, and alas for all, our remote Cro-Magnon ancestors were Shamanists who believed in a world filled with spirits of various kinds who were religious fanatics who seemed to have made use of a wide range of beliefs around which to organize their lives from cradle to the grave. They were also mostly rather blood thirsty as far as evidence allows us to say, and in all likelihood killed off the Neanderthals plus sub populations of each other. This is NOT the Noble Savage of yore, to say the least, even if , yes, some groups were mostly hunter gatherers / fisherfolk. who weren't all that keen on killing other humans. Anyway, all the data are there to be looked at and all it is necessary to do is actually read the stuff and learn the facts --which was accessible to me but which I had put off reading for far too many years for my own good. Also read Ann Coulter's "Godless, The Church of Liberalism," and was aghast. Sure, the book is filled with useful insights and witty criticisms of the Left, much of which I appreciated greatly,but what a mess. Coulter knows next to nothing that can be called serious knowledge about religion and she concluded the book with 3 chapters attacking evolution. WTH ? It isn't just the femi-Nazi Left that is anti-science ( especially anti-sociobiology ) it seems as if elements of the Right have not gotten the news that the decision in the Scopes Trial is now widely regarded as not in the best interests of political Conservatives. Also in this vein is Dinesh D'Souza's "What's So Great About Christianity ?" Another very good read, but also a compendium of errors on one level , with so many mistakes in the realm of philosophy, on which D'Souza rests much of his case, that I was rather surprised. I do think he pretty much seriously injures the case of Atheists, his primary objective, which is all well and good, but there are many problems he is simply blind to, in no small part because of his ignorance of Mesopotamian history and --inexplicably-- basic ignorance of Hindu and Buddhist traditions beyond a really elementary level which, in the kind of book he was writing, is mostly useless given the fact that the arguments he was making lead in very different directions once you actually know about the philosophical traditions of India and South Asia generally. D'Souza doesn't seem to know that such traditions even exist. Lots more to tell everyone about, but for openers this ought to be sufficient. What's been happening at RC.org <http://rc.org/> these past 2 months ? Ciao Billy -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
